The Boogeyman Unfiltered

City Pages:When did you start playing hockey?

CP: Did you have to fight a lot as a kid?

Boogaard:It's surprising how brutal little kids are. It was an unfortunate thing. My dad was a cop, and my dad had to do his job, and he would have to give older kids tickets, and then they'd want to come and fight me.

CP: Did you get your ass kicked?

Boogaard: Oh yeah, a few times. But I eventually got them back, so it's all right.

CP: What was your first big fight?

Boogaard: We were losing 6-2 or something, and I just got pissed off, really mad about something. And I just fought and fought—fought one kid, I fought another kid—I don't know how it happened, but I was in their bench asking the whole team to fight. They just kind of backed up—they didn't want to do anything.

There was a Regina Pats scout watching the game and after the game the team decided to list me and protect me so no other teams could pick me up. The next year I went to camp and I beat up one of their tough guys, and it went from there.

CP: What was it like making the transition from the AHL to the NHL?

Boogaard: It was obviously a lot faster. There's a lot more skill finish—guys could finish plays better up here. In the American league, the guys are still learning. You're only allowed to have four guys on the team that played over 250 games. I notice that a lot: Everything is more polished.

CP: What was it like coming in with the chaos of the lockout?

Boogaard: It was scary. I thought I was honestly going to get sent down in Houston any given day almost. And even this year there's been times when it's like, "Oh jeez," you know? It's never a comfortable thing. I think I keep up. I make hits. I make plays here and there. I think I've helped out. Every game I play I honest to God just sit there and think this could be my last game. And people might think it's stupid, but that's how I get ready. It could be my last game, I could get two shifts, I could get one shift, so why not go out and give it your all and see what happens? I could get hurt. Anything could happen. I could get punched. My face could get broken in a fight and I could never play again. I just don't want to look back and say, What if I would have worked a little harder?

CP: Is it harder to be a tough guy post-lockout?

Boogaard: There's no point in having just one guy to go out and fight and that's it. What makes a difference in the game is you get in their face, you're hitting, you're causing havoc, you're making a team uncomfortable—that's making a difference. And if you have to fight you have to fight, and that makes a difference as well. I think during the lockout, they just got rid of their tough guys because they didn't know what to expect. So now what the scouts are doing is looking for big guys that can skate. I tell everyone who comes up to ask me, "How'd you do it?" Just skate. That's it. They can teach you everything else.

CP: What's it like being the team's enforcer?

Boogaard: They don't treat you any different. They have respect for you, that you don't have as much skill as some of the guys, but they know you're there working hard and you want to be as good as them, or better. And the guys do see it, they respect you a lot, but they don't treat you any different. Here they don't treat me any different and I think that's great, they shouldn't.

CP: Do you ever get intimidated going into a game where you know you might fight?